On April 21, George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., will officially become NSU’s sixth president at an investiture ceremony held in the Don Taft University Center at 4 p.m. The board of trustees appointed Hanbury president on December 9, 2009. He took over for current chancellor, Ray Ferrero Jr.
Hanbury said, “I’ve never had such an honor invested upon me. This is the pinnacle of my academic career.”
Rachel Comito, sophomore biology major, said she has met Hanbury at basketball games before.
“He’s a very nice person and he’s very involved with students,” she said. “You can tell he cares about students academically and socially. He doesn’t just want students to do well academically, he wants them to have fun, too.”
As president, Hanbury plans to have NSU recognized by more accrediting agencies by the year 2020. His 2020 plan was adopted by the board of trustees last month.
“They wanted me to enact [my plan] when I first proposed it in May of 2010, but I told them no,” he said. “I didn’t want to have a George Hanbury vision. I wanted an NSU vision — a vision that was shared by everybody.”
Hanbury met with more than 4,000 people, including faculty and student leaders, and shared his plan. He rewrote the proposal based on the feedback he received.
Hanbury also wants to improve NSU’s ranking in the U.S. News and World Report. NSU ranks in the fourth tier, or the lower 25th percentile.
He said he plans to do this by enhancing the undergraduate program, since that is U.S. News’ focus.
“I’ve told the deans of the graduate programs ‘You are judged by the company you keep.’ If the undergraduates are recognized for quality, they too will be recognized,” said Hanbury.
He also wants to engage the NSU community in giving back to the university. He wants to focus especially on the alumni because the U.S. News and World Report also looks at the percent of alumni who donate, and not how much they give, to the university.
“Only one percent gives right now. Come July, I want to write all 130,000 alumni and ask them to donate, and see their diploma give itself value. Even if it’s just a dollar,” he said.
But, he said, the most important goal is to make students proud of NSU.
“I want students to say with pride that everyone is working together to add value to their diplomas,” said Hanbury.
At the investiture ceremony faculty, trustees and three of NSU’s former presidents will gather to celebrate as Hanbury becomes president. He will become NSU’s CEO in July, a title which accompanies presidency.
